Methods and products for producing an antigen specific immune response are provided. The methods involve administration of a caspase inhibitor to a subject.

The present invention provides a vaccine for canine Lyme disease and methods of making and using the vaccine alone, or in combinations with other protective agents.

Ferritin proteins comprising a mutation replacing a surface-exposed amino acid with a cysteine, an N- or C-terminal linker comprising a cysteine, and/or one or more immune-stimulatory moieties linked to the ferritin protein via a surface-exposed amino acid are disclosed. The ferritin proteins can further comprise a non-ferritin polypeptide and be antigenic, e.g., for use in eliciting antibodies against the non-ferritin polypeptide.

A composition comprising particles formed of poly(diaminosulfide) and one or more leptospiral antigens, and methods of making and using the composition, are provided.

The invention relates to an immunogenic or vaccine composition comprising an inactivated bacterium from the species Brachyspira hyodysenteriae, to a method for producing said composition and to the medical use of this composition for inducing an immune response against a bacterium from the species Brachyspira hyodysenteriae or for protecting against an infection caused by a bacterium from the species Brachyspira hyodysenteriae. Further, the invention relates to a method for selecting a bacterium from the species Brachyspira hyodysenteriae useful for manufacturing a vaccine against swine dysentery.

Chimeric polyvalent recombinant proteins for use as vaccines and diagnostics for Lyme disease (e.g. in canines and humans) are provided. The chimeric proteins comprise epitopes of the loop 5 region and/or the alpha helix 5 region of outer surface protein C (OspC) types and/or OspE types. The OspC types may be associated with mammalian Borrelia infections.

The present invention pertains to a composition containing an immunogenic cell preparation of killed Leptospira bacteria in an ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid solution. The invention also pertains to a vaccine to protect an animal against an infection with leptospira bacteria, wherein the vaccine comprises this composition. Also, the invention pertains to the use of ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid to stabilise an immunogenic preparation of killed Leptospira bacteria in a liquid carrier, by dissolving the ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid in the carrier.

The present invention relates to methods for construction of pharmamers i.e. vaccine components characterized by their multimerization domain and the attached biologically active molecules, and their use in preparation of vaccines that contains the pharmamers alone or in combination with other molecules. The individual molecules of the construct can be bound to each other or the multimerization domain(s) by covalent or non-covalent bonds, directly or via linkers. The invention further relates to the use of such preparations in vaccine settings aimed to function as preventive/prophylactic or therapeutic vaccines in humans and animals.

Disclosed herein is a composition including a recombinant nucleic acid sequence that encodes an antibody to a Borrelia antigen. Also disclosed herein is a method of generating a synthetic antibody in a subject by administering the composition to the subject. The disclosure also provides a method of preventing and/or treating lyme disease in a subject using said composition and method of generation.

The present disclosure provides nanostructures (e.g., monolayer or bilayer nanostructures) comprising porphyrins with cobalt chelated thereto such that the cobalt metal resides within monolayer or bilayer in the porphyrin macrocycle. The nanostructures can have presentation molecules comprising epitopes from microorganisms with a histidine tag attached thereto, such that at least a part of the his-tag is within the monolayer or bilayer and coordinated to the cobalt metal core and the presentation molecules are exposed to the outside of the nanostructures. The nanostructures can further comprise a cargo. The nanostructures can be used to deliver the cargo to an individual.